by wood work | Jul 31, 2021 | General
I love the simplicity and comfort of a sturdy, well built wood bed frame. But bed frames can easily cost $500-$1000 or more! Why not build your own? For a fraction of this cost, you could have a beautiful, custom solid wood bed frame!
Our DIY Wood Bed Frame Benefits
- Sturdy and solid for comfort and long term durability
- Easy to adjust in size
- Paint or stain any color
- No box spring required
- No bed skirt required
Video Tutorial for Building this Bed Frame
Here is a video tutorial of me building this bed frame.
Ready to build your own? The free step by step tutorial is below.
Thank you for using my plans, we appreciate the support and trust.
by wood work | Jul 27, 2021 | General
Food … it is a revolving storage and organization challenge that we all deal with. A pantry is a must in new homes. But what happens if you don’t have an adequate pantry?
My friend and co-worker Jen, who considers herself a beginner woodworker, solved it by building her own custom sized freestanding pantry!
Build Video: Watch it Happen!
Jen was kind enough to film all the steps, so you can watch how she made this happen. Here’s the build video for this custom freestanding pantry:
Plan and Product Links
Ready to tackle your own pantry project? Here’s the links for all the different DIYS and containers/bins:
Good luck with your project! And a huge thank you to Jen for making this project happen and taking the time to share each step with us.
Ana
by wood work | Jul 15, 2021 | General
Bookshelves don’t have to be boring! By just changing up the front trim (called the “face frame”) you can give your storage piece a completely different look!
Yes, this is just a simple bookshelf, with a chunkier face frame! It gives this piece a modern but crisp look – so mountain modern!
Why I Built this Bookshelf
I built this piece for our cabin in the mountains, where I’m craving a simplified life, with less things to pick up, less details to dust and wipe down, but still looking to be inspired and encouraged by the surroundings. I needed the storage for shoes, hats, gloves, sunglasses – entryway dropzone stuff – but wanted a piece that could also look good empty. I do love an empty shelf. It’s an opportunity to put something away.
Can I Build a Custom Size?
For my bookshelf, I built a custom size to fit in the space perfectly. If you are building it, you might as well get the right size, tailored for your space.
I love this plan because it is very easy to customize the size in both height and width! You can build just about any size you can think up!
The tutorial below will show you how to size yours just right for your space without doing any crazy math or worrying about making mistakes.
Video Tutorial of Building this Bookshelf
I put together a quick video showing the steps to build this bookshelf. Please watch before you build.
VIDEO COMING SOON
Mountain Modern Bookshelf Plans
Here are the plans for this bookshelf. I decided to do this one more as a template (so you can customize the sizes) – since getting the perfect fit is so important. It will be easy to come up with a cut list and shopping list once you have your carcass laid out.
Thank you for using our plans, we appreciate the trust and support.
by wood work | Jul 1, 2021 | General
Over the last decade of building kitchen cabinets, we’ve learned alot, everything from what materials to use to what techniques, and finally, are ready to share our process from start to finish with you.
But first, let’s discuss what exactly we are building – as there are many different ways to build kitchen cabinets, and many different types of materials to use.
The Ana White Kitchen Cabinet
- 3/4″ plywood carcass with front edges edgebanded
- Frameless – with the plywood carcass, no face frame is needed for structure
- Pocket hole joinery
- Full overlay doors and drawers with concealed hinges
- 1/4″ gap overall in between doors and drawers
- For open shelving or cabinets with no doors/drawers, I like to add a face frame for a finished look
- I like to use a 1×6 for the top drawer faces with a 1×4 or 1×3 drawer box.
- I don’t recommend 1x12s for larger drawer faces, as they always seem to warp or cup
How much Does it Cost to Build Your Own Kitchen?
This really depends on how much work you do yourself. For this kitchen, I did a little math:
- 1/2″ plywood RTA cabinets that you assemble yourself and install and trim out yourself: $6000
- DIY cabinets using Shelf Help and ordering hardwood doors, you build, install and paint or finish: $2500
- Full DIY – cutting your own plywood, building your own doors, doing everything: $1200-$1800 (depending on wood prices)
If you are doing the hybrid DIY method, I find the doors are going to cost about the same amount as your carcass from Shelf Help. The overall cost is generally about three times your carcass quote from Shelf Help.
What to Expect When You DIY a Kitchen
Building a kitchen is a big process, and there are many steps. The good news is you can outsource the hard parts (cutting carcasses and building doors), and tackle the easier parts – assembling, painting, and trimming – and still get a custom kitchen on a DIY budget.
Here’s a video of my entire process of building a kitchen:
Tutorial Links for Building Kitchen Cabinets
As promised in the video, here’s links to the steps.
Thank you for using our tutorials, we hope this helps you in your builds, and love seeing your final projects.
by wood work | Jun 22, 2021 | General
Doors are super important. It is the face of the project.
After a decade of trying and testing many different methods and techniques, here’s our process for building professional quality Shaker cabinet doors:
The Shaker Door calculator is a huge deal. It takes the hesitation out of making cuts – I’m always a little scared to start cutting hardwood since it’s so expensive. Not anymore.
Since this type of door is a good fit for our Shelf Help calculator, we have the tutorial and calculator over there.
Click here to download my free Shaker Door cut list generator and step by step tutorial
